Miller pleads innocent in St. Lawrence County Court

CANTON  The former mayor of Gouverneur pleaded innocent Friday in St. Lawrence County Court to charges that he bilked two Gouverneur residents by fraudulently selling them a house.

Christopher A. Miller, 30, of 171 Rowley St., Gouverneur, appeared with his attorney, John W. Hallett, Watertown. to plead innocent to third-degree grand larceny and offering a false instrument for filing and to hear the district attorneys office announce it is ready for trial.

Mr. Miller is accused of selling a house at 31 Edith St. in Gouverneur to Ronald and Heather Sliter for $50,000 on a fraudulent land contract because he failed to mention there was a co-owner who did not sign off on the transaction.

Mr. Miller earlier rejected a plea agreement because it would have required sentencing him as a second felony offender.

As a result of the accusation, Mr. Miller also faces charges of violating the three-year probationary sentence he received in January 2010 in Jefferson County Court, where he pleaded guilty to second-degree criminal trespass and petit larceny, both misdemeanors.

A hearing on the probation violation was adjourned by County Court Judge Jerome J. Richards.

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